Rufin Sudkovsky
1850–1885 · Russian landscape and marine painter
Rufin Gavrilovich Sudkovsky (Ochakov, 1850 - Ochakov, 1885) was a Russian Imperial landscape painter who specialised in naval and maritime scenes. The son of an Orthodox priest in the Diocese of Kherson, in what is now Ukraine, he first trained for the priesthood in Odesa, but soon lost interest. Drawing had attracted him since childhood, and the port city's maritime life gradually shaped his focus.
In 1868 he moved to Saint Petersburg, where he was admitted provisionally to the Imperial Academy of Arts and later became a full student. After returning to Ochakiv in 1871 he produced many sketches of the Black Sea coast. His early works were largely derivative and met little success, but his technique and originality improved after a journey to Germany and France in 1874. In 1882 his painting "Tempest near Ochakov" earned him the title of Academician. That same year he became embroiled in a controversy when Arkhip Kuindzhi, a former roommate at the Academy, accused him of plagiarism, although critics and the press largely supported him.
He fell ill with typhus in 1885 during an exhibition in Kiev and died in Ochakov at only 34. Friends presented a retrospective of the many canvases he had completed. His widow, Elena, also an artist, later remarried and became a popular illustrator.